Circuit Judge Allows Former Cop’s Suit Against UAFS

Opposing attorneys in a lawsuit against the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith offered contrasting interpretations of the outcome of a proceeding this week in Crawford County Circuit Court.

Kevin Holmes of Van Buren, who represents former UAFS campus police officer Mike Burcham in a lawsuit alleging retaliatory firing, said Circuit Judge Mike Medlock set a pretrial schedule Monday after denying a motion by the defense to dismiss the case.

The schedule allows 120 days for discovery, which includes conducting depositions and obtaining documents, and 30 days for dispository motions, such as requests for dismissal or summary judgement. Holmes said he and the defense attorney agreed that two to three days would be needed for a trial.

The judge also could direct the parties to resolve their dispute through remediation, he said.

Holmes said a ruling that the case could go before a jury is “absolutely” good news for his client.

But Little Rock-based attorney Matt McCoy, who represents the University of Arkansas System, said Medlock’s order was not filed with the clerk as of Thursday afternoon, so a decision as to his client’s next move would be premature.

“The court ruled from the bench,” McCoy said. “He has not yet entered a written order.”

McCoy said his client’s position is that it is inappropriate to sue a member of the UA System in circuit court, which is a state court, and that any decision to allow such a suit would have to come from the Legislature.

He said that after he sees Medlock’s order he can decide on his next action.

Burcham, a Van Buren resident, filed suit in August 2011, alleging he was fired in retaliation for questioning his supervisors about campus police policies and procedures. A five-year veteran patrol officer with UA in Fayetteville, Burcham had transferred to UAFS in April 2009. He worked there a year before then-campus police chief Kevin Thiele fired him in April 2010, saying he was “not a good fit” for the department.

In an amended lawsuit filed Jan. 10, 2012, Burcham said the UAFS police department had no procedural manual, and he was fired the day after he asked a sergeant how he should train a new recruit he’d been assigned, given that he’d been given no program to follow.

Thiele was later assigned to a different position at UAFS and has since left the university.